Upgrading Lighting in 14 Gallon Nanon --- HELP

[TheTrav13]

I currently run the pc's that come with the tank, however, they'll be burnt out soon and I'm definitely looking to upgrade! I've bee looking around a lot on the web and have found that a lot of people are going with LED lighting. I'm a noob whets it comes to lighting so I'd greatly appreciate it if someone could point me in the right direction. I used to have current nova's on my 29 and absolutely loved them, but I gave up having a canopy. I would like to keep my canopy on my biocube 14, but upgrade the lighting. Could someone give me some more information on LED lighting? Any threads already cover this? I want too be able to keep my Sebae anemone and the rest of my corals. I have frogspawn, candy apple polyps, green star polyps, and a variety of mushrooms. I am also concerned of how much heat new lighting will produce in a tank this small. I know nanotuners went out of business but is there any other websites like it? And what would you guys recommend for the 14?

[mr_X]

How about these:
BIOCUBE 14 GALLON LED LIGHT KIT W/BALLAST DIMMABLE 36W | eBay

Led lighting will probably put off less heat than your existing cf lighting.

[TheTrav13]

Those do look good but I'm always skeptical about buying not from a company in case they crap out.Have you ever heard of the Panorama Pro LED Module? I'm looking for spending 150 tops but I know I maybe looking at 200.

[mr_X]

He's got 2237 sales under his belt. Pay with Paypal and you are completely safe. Nanotuners "crapped out" too...lol.
I have heard of them, but have never tried one. I would think you would need multiple strips to even out the tank. Are they 1 watt leds? The ebay guy's are 3 watters. I would rather have that unit than those strips.

[Crabs]

Thanks MrX. I've been looking to replace my PC in my Bio14. I think these might b the answer.

[TheTrav13]

I like the one you showed me MrX and I'm thinking of buying it. I do have a question though. If I go with the panorama pro led that'll be 19 watts of led and I can also keep my pc's in there at 2x24 watts. I know this one on eBay says 36watts. Which would give me mode lighting? It may seem like a silly question but I don't know the difference in lighting potency between led and pc.

[TheTrav13]

Also price wise it would cost me 180 for the ones on eBay and it would cost me 140 for the panorama pro module with the transformer.

[mr_X]

Originally Posted by TheTrav13

I like the one you showed me MrX and I'm thinking of buying it. I do have a question though. If I go with the panorama pro led that'll be 19 watts of led and I can also keep my pc's in there at 2x24 watts. I know this one on eBay says 36watts. Which would give me mode lighting? It may seem like a silly question but I don't know the difference in lighting potency between led and pc.

Did you mean more lighting? If so, the 36 watt LED fixture there would be a lot more light in my opinion. Power compacts are not nearly as efficient a LED technology.

[mr_X]

I can't answer on which will be better for your system, since i don't know what corals you are keeping, what look you like, canopy or not..etc.

[TheTrav13]

It's just a standard 14g biocube with a hood. I keep frogspawn, torch coral, polyps, zoas, mushrooms. I'm not a big fan of sps but the main thing I'm worried about getting enough lighting is my anemone.

[TheTrav13]

Originally Posted by mr_X

Did you mean more lighting? If so, the 36 watt LED fixture there would be a lot more light in my opinion. Power compacts are not nearly as efficient a LED technology.

Yea I meant more lol.

[mr_X]

I would definitely go for the dimmable unit from ebay. The panorama pros aren't even adjustable as far as i've read.

[TheTrav13]

Is the reason for dimmable lighting is so you can mimic sunrise and moonrise?

[mr_X]

No. So you can adjust the amount of white light and blue to make your tank look the best. Also, to acclimate your corals to the new, stronger light, you are going to want to start it out at maybe 50% and work it up to where you need it. This is important, because you can easily kill corals by shocking them with super powerful lighting.

[TheTrav13]

I did not know that. Thanks for the info! Over what amount of time should I wait until I kick it up to 100%? Like 10% a day from 50?

[TheTrav13]

I just found this too. It's the same thing but 54 Watts for only 20$ more.

[Crabs]

Pardon my asking. U just found what that's more light for only $20 more?

[mr_X]

I don't think you need anything more than the 1st one I linked. That's plenty of light for whatever you wanted to keep.
I would slowly turn up the intensity over a period of a couple weeks.

[TheTrav13]

Alright Mr_X, I'm gonna pull the trigger. Thanks for your help.

Crabs,
It was under the other items from the same seller in ebay.

[mr_X]

Good luck! Post some pics and share your experience!